Introducing “A Cinderella for the Duke”: Novel – Discover NOW The New Clean and Sweet Historical Regency Romance Book by Abby Ayles!…It’s time to act based on her heart…Lady Louisa Frasier is in a sad situation. With her brother, the Earl of Gilchrist, gone to America with his wife, and her best friend, the Duchess of Wintercrest, taking care of her own young children far up north, Louisa … of her own young children far up north, Louisa seems to have no friends to keep her company.
It is when her mother, the dowager countess, suggests a visit to her aunt in the lake district that prospects seem to look up for Lady Louisa. The Dowager Countess and her sister have not been on the best of terms, and Lady Louisa’s single goal is to mend the broken bond.
Arriving in their quaint country town, Lady Louisa soon learns that her aunt, Lady Hendrickson, has no desire to regain any family connection and instead seizes the opportunity to use Lady Louisa until she can take no more.
Henry Vaughan, the Duke of Rowland, has reluctantly returned to his country seat. Upon his Uncle’s most insistent request he is to acquire a wife before he may return to the life he has enjoyed.
Undoubtedly this will be an easy task as he has no preference as to whom the woman shall be, and plenty of distant country ladies will happily flock at the opportunity to be a Duchess.
The Duke’s indifference changes in an instant when a chance meeting with a masked mystery woman at his own private masquerade fills his every waking moment. Who was that enchantress? Why has she hidden herself despite his desperate attempts to find her?
Lady Louisa has no intention of telling the Duke that she was the one he met that fateful night. Her aunt is wholly set on snagging the Duke for her oldest daughter. Despite her growing attraction to the Duke of Rowland and the fact that this could quite possibly be her only chance at finding true love, she must keep her promise to make peace with her aunt’s family.
Will the Duke ever find his mystery lady in green?
Will Lady Louisa find her own strength to stand up for herself and find her own path to walk in life?
“A Cinderella for the Duke” is a clean and sweet historical regency romance novel of approximately 65,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.
Enjoy!more
I Highly Recommend this novel, which follows right after ‘Saving Lady Abigail’, which is one of my favorite novels. This book is a take on the original ‘Cinderella’ story. The wicked aunt and two wicked cousins insist that Louisa be absent when Duke Rowland is around. She sneaks into his masked ball and he falls for her. Discover the ending of this darling book for yourself.
It is…………..AMAZING!!!!!!!!
Captivating story from the beginning, of young woman sent to console Aunt and 2 sisters after the death of their husband/father. Previously unknown to her was that from a young age, her grandparents had arranged for her Father to have married her Aunt. However, her Aunt fell in love and ran off with someone else. Her mother then stepped up to marry in her place to maintain peaceful relations between the 2 families. However, difficult economic circumstances brought anger and jealousy to her Aunt, who came to resent the good life her sister had acquired by marrying in her place.
Now cognizant of the history between the 2 sisters, Louisa is sent to try to help her Aunt and cousins after her uncle’s death, with the hope of re-establishing family relationships. Unfortunately, the Aunt takes out her jealousy and anger she feels towards her sister, on Louisa. Patiently, humbly, Louisa tries to fulfill each chore put upon her, realizing the underlying feelings that drive her aunt to treat her so demeaningly.
The Duke has been given an ultimatum from his uncle: marry or lose the use of his inherited funds until he is 30. SO, back home he comes to reluctantly search for a bride. A job that he thought would be easy (find some willing female, marry her, then take off to parts unknown leaving her to pursue her own interests) turns out to be far more difficult that he imagined. He finds that the superficialiality displayed by females intend on marrying a title, sets his teeth on edge and he finds himself turning away from the majority of available young girls. Only one has been honest with him, and in so being has irritated him. Thus, both Louisa and the Duke find themselves irritated with the other, with no intention of getting to know each other better.
A masquerade ball changes all of that. Wearing a dress belonging to her cousin, masked, Louisa slips into a side room to escape her Aunt and cousins, only to come face to face with a masked man. Neither recognizes the other, and a playful game of “cat & mouse” ensues, with the Duke trying to determine who the lady is, and the lady also in the dark as to the identity of the man. Later, after rejoining the crowd, with the agreement to share a dance, Louisa sees some men she does recognize come to the masked man and deliver information or receive instruction. From this, she dedeuces that the masked man is the duke and runs away rather than face him. The mystery of the lady in the green dress drives the Duke to try to solve the problem, by visiting many young women to determine if they were the mystery lady.
So……Why does Louisa NOT make her identity known at the masked ball and for a prolonged time after the ball? She realizes the uproar it will cause to her Aunt’s household, as the eldest daughter is the lady expected to win the Duke. Furthermore, the younger daughter has fallen in love with a soldier, too lowly for her mother’s taste. Louisa thinks that if she stays out of the picture and allows the eldest daughter to keep company with the DUKE, her Aunt might be persuaded to accept the younger daughter’s Suitor.
This was a skillfully written twist or variation on the Cinderella story, in that ONLY after I finished the book did I realize the connection to the story and to Cinderella. I was totally engrossed in the story. For those careful readers, there are also life lessons to learn: WHY to not be jealous and angry. WHY to be humble and generous, not overbearing and trying to be someone you are not.
This is a clean book, suitable for all ages of Regency readers.
Lady Louisa Frasier is going to the country to meet and help mend a family bond between her mother and her aunt Sarah Hendrickson.Her aunt has become a very manipulating person.Even mean and deliberately insulting toward Lady Louisa.She is only concerned that her daughters find a secure future with a gentleman who has a title.They are invited to a Masquerade Ball at the Duke of Rowland’s mansion.Lady Louisa arrives late by herself and goes into a room off from the main ballroom to hide from her Aunt.There inside is a handsome gentleman with his mask on sitting at the desk. Lady Louisa deliciously flirts with him hiding behind her mask.They don’t reveal themselves to each other.He’s the Duke of Rowland .He is Entranced by this woman in the Green dress.Lady Louisa finds out later it is the Duke.She runs out and they never get to meet to dance. He has to find out who she is! This is the one he tells his uncle.He won’t give up until he finds her. I always loved this story. 5 stars from me Abby!
“True beauty is born through our actions and aspirations and in the kindness we offer to others.” –Alek Wek
I was absolutely intrigued by this story idea. I absolutely adored the 2015 movie Cinderella [directed by Kenneth Branagh] and had to go and watch snippets of it as I read this story. Rating: Clean.
In writing a Cinderella story… the author has to remember to maintain the integrity of the characters… to capture the essence of their goodness or badness, and still stay on course for the happy-ever-after. There will be points of reference that the reader will look for in relation to the fairy tale. I feel that Abby Ayles did that with this story. With the afterglow of Branagh’s film still surrounding me… I dove into this story.
“Kindness is loving people more than they deserve.” –Joseph Joubert
What I liked: I loved the character of Lady Louisa. She was a perfect Cinderella. Even though she was visiting her mother’s sister… Aunt Lady Hendrickson, her innate goodness shone forth from the page. No matter what happened, Lady Louisa was determined to do the right thing and bridge the gap between the families. As she suffered the indignities thrust upon her from her aunt and one of her cousins, she never faltered in maintaining her goodness and showing kindness back to her relations.
“The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.” –Philip Zimbardo
Aunt Hendrickson was the perfect antagonist for the goodness displayed by Lady Louisa. I couldn’t help but picture Cate Blanchett’s portrayal of the evil step-mother from the movie. This was one unhappy lady. In her younger days, her family tried to betroth her to an earl. She felt herself in love and refused to have her family dictate her marriage choice. She and Hendrickson eloped and her family disowned her. Her sister stepped in and saved the family honor by marrying the Earl of Gilchrist, thus becoming the countess. They later fell in love and had a son, the now Earl of Gilchrist and Lady Louisa. However, life was not so kind to Lady Hendrickson and, in her disappointments, became jealous and angry at her sister for having a better life after she married her earl. Go figure… she wanted what she wanted and when she got it, didn’t want it after all and instead wanted what her sister had. Bitter, angry and near destitute [because she wouldn’t live within her means], she now needed to marry her two daughters to best advantage in order to save them.
After the death of Hendrickson, the dowager Lady Gilchrist felt bad about the continued break with her sister. Lady Louisa, wanting to console her cousins [she knew what it meant to lose a father], convinced her mother to let her travel to Mentheith House. Her hopes were to try and do what she could for her family and see if she could mend the breach.
“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.” –Leo Tolstoy
Cousins: Miss Hendrickson [Elisabeth] and Miss Mary were opposites. Elisabeth possessed the perfect evil step-sister persona. She was self-centered, beautiful, self-absorbed, entitled and she and her mother both wanted her to marry the bachelor Duke of Rowland who had recently returned home from traveling abroad. Miss Mary was just there, no one paid any attention to her.
“Goodness is about character – integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.” –Dennis Prager
Ella… em… Lady Louisa: Every attempt at kindness was met with harsh remarks, vailed taunts and insults and a total disrespect to her station. Every gesture of kindness by Lady Louisa was repulsed. She was taken advantage of and was subjugated into a near servant status within her own family. Because Lady Louisa wanted to help her cousin Mary [and still hoping to mend the breach between her mother and her aunt], she stayed, took the abuse and worked especially hard as she helped the financially strapped family. Her mother had offered to give her sister the portion her family had withheld due to her elopement; however, pride was a powerful motivator and Lady Hendrickson refused the offer, resenting her sister even more.
“My parents taught me honesty, truth, compassion, kindness and how to care for people. Also, they encouraged me to take risks, to boldly go. They taught me that the greatest danger in life is not taking the adventure.” –Brian Blessed
It wouldn’t be a Cinderella story without a handsome Duke, a masked ball and a love-struck His Grace chasing a mysterious lady as she ran from the ballroom. This was a delightful story. I couldn’t put it down as I watched the story unfold before me. I knew the Cinderella story and was delighted as our author kept her story true to the character of the fairy tale.
Cover: beautiful cover… too bad there wasn’t a model wearing a green dress as the story indicated the mysterious lady wore green. Other than that, it is a gorgeous cover and very appropriate for the story.
What I didn’t like: Where do I start… Edit, proof and edit again. OMG! This must have been the wrong galley sent to the publisher or simply a rush to publish without taking a final read through. The editing was horrid. Maybe it was my copy or my reader or something… there were sentences that
wrapped to the next line leaving a gape in the text. This was all throughout the story.
So many uses of country vs county, I was confused. I always thought it was county seat not country seat.
Missing words… ‘…desire to have wife…’
Missing letters… Louis instead of Louisa… lap vs lapse… he vs she… know vs now… later vs latter… serval vs several
Wrong word used: complement vs compliment… patience vs patient… transpiration vs transportation… peak vs pique… in vs end
Modern word blip: late 1890s meant a popping sound; mid 1940s point on a radar screen.
Extra words… in attempting to edit… word wasn’t removed after edit:
‘Had she just not just promised the Duke…’
‘It didn’t seem like we were not enjoying yourself…”
“every everyone resolving in her departure…”
“even asked questioned…”
There were no gaps or breaks between paragraphs. Dialogue was run together. Two people speaking within the same paragraph. No breaks to indicate who was speaking. Mistaking characters: saying it was Miss Mary wearing the dress when it was Miss Elisabeth.
This story ended at 79% on my reader with a free offer of an extended epilogue. It was cute and only 2 pages. There was also an excerpt [4-chapters] of another book ‘Engaging Love’ and an excerpt [4-chapters] for ‘Saving Lady Abigail.’
Although I had volunteered to read an ARC [advance reader copy], this was a free offer on Amazon. This is my honest review and could have easily been 5-stars. I wanted desperately to give it 5-stars… [3.5-stars rounded to 4]
Really good story with fully realized characters and plot.
Sweet, plain faced Lady Louisa goes to comfort an estranged aunt upon the death of her uncle, but Aunt doesn’t need comforting. She just wants a slave. Duke Rowland is looking for a wife but he doesn’t want one; he only wants to beget an heir and then return to single life in the Indies. Miss Mary wants to find love. Good luck, everyone!
A lovely story. There is an Indian influence on the story and language. In any formal meal, seating is boy, girl, boy girl round the table. Quotations aren’t neccesary, but the books every one was familiar with were Shakespere and the Bible (AV) these would have been the usual things quoted. Quotes from Shelley would have been matched with Keates, Byron, Wordsworth….